Six members of the finance committee earned honors as PFD Posturers this week by claiming the state can afford to spend $2.4 billion on dividends and burn through half of the Constitutional Budget Reserve, which would make it impossible to deal with future state emergencies without going into the Permanent Fund.
Read MoreDonald Trump told Republicans they should remain in Washington, D.C. this week to pass the so-called SAVE act, which is about saving himself. Do it for Jesus, Trump said.
Read MoreAll the expectations for the Permanent Fund were based on conditions that prevailed before the 1979 Iranian revolution when Ayatollah Khomeini became the first supreme leader. Oil prices rose by 250 percent from 1978-1980, changing every calculation about Alaska’s finances and the vision for the Permanent Fund.
Read More“Now the Permanent Fund is more critical than ever to the economy and people of Alaska. Alaska cannot afford any mistakes,” said former Rep. Terry Gardiner, one of the few founders of the Alaska Permanent Fund still alive 50 years after its creation.
Read MoreTemporary Attorney General Stephen Cox has inserted himself into the national debate over birthright citizenship, saying that babies born to people in the U.S. illegally are damaging Alaska.
Read MoreThe biggest argument 50 years ago about creating the Permanent Fund concerned a plan by House Republicans to ban the fund from investing in the stock market.
The stock market decline in 1973-74 of nearly 50 percent, triggered in part by the OPEC oil embargo, was the worst since the Great Depression. The GOP wanted to ban any investment without a guaranteed return. The idea would have cost tens of billions over time.
Read MoreThe most important issue regarding John W. Wood’s fitness to evaluate judge candidates is his 1993 conviction in federal court for failing to file his federal taxes in 1987. The Legislature should reject his appointment to the Alaska Judicial Council.
Read MoreThe Alaska Senate took a step toward eliminating a $100 million loophole in state tax law that allows Hilcorp to avoid an income tax paid by ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and others.
The Senate adopted an amendment to HB 194 on an 11-8 vote to extend the state corporate income tax to Hilcorp and other oil and gas companies that earn more than $1 million net profit.
Read MoreThe Dunleavy administration says that local governments could get nothing in taxes for up to 10 years from the proposed gas pipeline.
Or the governments would start to collect relatively small amounts as soon as the pipeline carries at least 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day, an amount that is far beyond the energy needs of the in-state market today.
Read MoreThe so-called conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Cour could rule it unconstitutional to allow ballots postmarked on Election Day to be counted 10 days later—the practice that has long been used in Alaska—so the state needs a plan.
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